Jefferies' model identifies EPC/labor as the binding constraint for 2026 at 10.4 GW, with cooling becoming the primary bottleneck from 2028 onwards. The model projects North American datacenter additions will grow from 8.9 GW in 2025 to 10.3 GW in 2026 and 12.1 GW in 2027, reaching 15.1 GW by 2030. This forecast suggests a potential 0-8 GW gap between US AI chip vintage design load and energizable capacity in 2026.
Datacenter buildout is constrained by labor and cooling, not just power, limiting US AI compute capacity to 15.1 GW by 2030.